The University of Georgia is facing a federal civil rights complaint for alleged anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian discrimination against their own students.
The Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) together with Georgia Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) have filed a complaint with the US Department of Education against UGA. CAIR and SJP are alleging that UGA has violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 through “extreme differential treatment of Palestinian, Arab and Muslim students, students perceived to be Palestinian and students associated with or advocating for Palestinians,” referencing the arrests and suspensions of nine peaceful UGA student protesters on April 29.
The complaint alleges that UGA has enforced its freedom of expression policy in a discriminatory manner. The complaint includes numerous examples, including the suspensions of peaceful protesters without proper notice, locking these protesters out of their on-campus housing, terminating their employment and even barring them from campus and from their own graduations. Students who are white or Christian have not received such punishments when protesting similarly in recent years.
CAIR-Georgia describes how students associated with SJP have been the target of anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab and Islamophobic harassment on campus that has escalated since the Hamas terror attacks of October 7, 2023.
“UGA’s targeted, discriminatory investigation of students and student organizations that are made up of mostly Palestinians, Arab or Muslim members, perceived to be Palestinian, affiliated with, or advocating in support of Palestinians amounts to a McCarthyist campaign to punish students for their identity and/or expressive activity, effectively shunning them from the UGA campus community,” as stated in the complaint.
CAIR-Georgia also says that “UGA did not take meaningful steps to end the harassment, prevent it from occurring or remedy its effects.”
Instead, they claim “UGA reinforced the hostile anti-Palestinian environment” on campus. For example, UGA President Jere Morehead issued a statement of support for Jewish students after the terror attack on October 7, but he has not done the same for Palestinian students.
“[Moorehead has] failed to acknowledge the impact that the ongoing genocide of Palestinians has on students of Palestinian, Arab and Muslim identity. Instead, he characterized campus demonstrations in support of Palestinian liberation as politically opportunistic and hateful.”
CAIR-Georgia also describes how UGA’s Israel Fest has, for the past two years, been held on Eid, a holy day for Muslims that celebrates the end Ramadan. They describe the scheduling of this festival, which includes activities that celebrate the Israeli Defense Forces (an organization that has been accused of numerous war crimes), as “deeply offensive” and “Islamophobic.”
SJP students say that UGA administrators refused to meet with them and have ignored concerns about their physical safety. These complaints are echoed by Zeena Mohamed, a student organizer with SJP and one of the “UGA 6” who contested their suspensions.
“As an Arab and Muslim student at UGA, I have faced relentless doxing, threats and harassment both online and on campus,” Mohamed wrote. “I’ve been subjected to blatant racism, Islamophobia and xenophobia, and every time I sought support from the university, UGA not only failed to respond, but actively used its institutional power to target and profile myself and other Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian students.”
CAIR-Georgia, together with SJP and attorneys Sarah Gerwig and Samantha Hamilton, are calling on the US Department of Education to investigate UGA’s “failure” to protect these students from doxing and other threats and to “ensure UGA is held accountable for its unequal treatment of these students.”
You can read their complaint for yourself here.
Help APN continue covering local news for the Athens area!
Please consider becoming a member or giving a one-time donation via PayPal.
